Ukraine is willing to join the “16+1” mechanism, a platform created by China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries, to start a comprehensive cooperation with China under the Silk Road Initiative, a senior Ukrainian parliament official announced on Monday.

The City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, City Bridge Trust, on Monday awarded a grant of 80,000 pounds (99,000 U.S. dollars) to the Chinese National Healthy Living Center based in London, to provide more help for people with dementia, the corporation said.

The defence ministers of Central and Eastern European countries have met in the Austrian state of Burgenland on Monday to discuss the potential collapse of the European Union (EU) refugee deal with Turkey, the APA news agency reported.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) rebels continued to advance on Monday against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria’s northern city of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS, a monitor group reported.